Type 1 Diabetes and Pregnancy: Week 32-35

Almost nine months!! Starting to count down the days. Needless to say I'm ready to meet this baby soon! 

Doctor Appointments:  There are so many now I've lost track! 

• I go weekly for a Non-Stress-Test (NST) and check-up with my doctor. 
• I had another growth ultrasound at 34 weeks. Max was an estimated 5lbs and still in the 50th percentile. My high risk doctor said I was doing so well that he didn't need to see me again until right before delivery. Yay!!
• My high risk doctor did order an abdominal ultrasound of my right quadrant to look to see if I had gallstones that might be causing my persistent pain. It revealed nothing, which wasn't a surprise based on my symptoms and other testing. Also, the pain pretty much went away completely during the winter break. This points to it being muscle related and probably work/stress related! 
• I had another A1C completed for December which came back at 5.9, up from my last two at 5.5! My regular OBGYN was still very happy with it even though I was feeling a little bummed it went up so much. I had to remind myself 5.9 is still beyond stellar (heck anything under 6.5 is stellar). Also, I survived the winter holidays and still managed to stay below 6%, nice! 

Keeping baby in the 50th percentile hopefully and blood sugars in goal range!

How far along: 35 weeks

Gender: Boy

Maternity clothes: Everything is maternity! Refusing to buy anymore clothes so I'm doing laundry twice a week just to have gym pants!

Stretch marks: No.

Belly button in or out: Definitely out.

Sleep: Sleep requires massive amounts of pillows that I then have to climb over multiple times a night to visit the bathroom and drink more water. Naps needed!!

Best moment this week: Mini-vacation to the beach with my husband. Our last romantic getaway before becoming parents!

Worst moment this week: Right up until our mini-vacation my husband was very sick all week. Together we made one pathetic mess of trying to take care of each other!!

Miss anything: Holiday cocktails and being able to do my workouts in their entirety!

Movement: I think he has been practicing his kick boxing and soccer moves. We can see my belly moving now.

Cravings: More like splurges. On holiday food. Starting the New Year off with clean eating goals!

Queasy or sick: A little nauseous if I don't eat regular healthy meals. Mostly fatigue.

Looking forward to: Full term status around the corner and meeting this baby!

35 weeks and not in pajamas or gym clothes. Probably should have documented the moment by using a better camera!!

Third Trimester and Explosives: Type 1 Diabetes and Pregnancy: Weeks 26-31

Then end of my 2nd trimester was full of good energy and a great break from having too many doctor appointments. Then, during week 28 I had four doctor appointments and from here on out I'm there once to twice a week. 

EYE DOCTOR
The first during week 28 was an eye doctor appointment for the "floaters" I'd been seeing. This was a long appointment because my eyes had to be dilated. They took some extra precautions to minimize absorption because I'm pregnant. Everything looked good on my retina and I felt a huge relief!

OBGYN
My next appointment was a standard OBGYN appointment. I had blood work ran for my iron levels and another A1C. Despite STILL feeling like my levels were harder to control and averages spiking, my A1C came back at 5.5 again. I'm still taking 3x my pre-pregnancy insulin levels and for a few weeks even more. It has stabilized a bit recently. 

PEDIATRICIAN CONSULT
My husband and I consulted with a pediatrician for our next appointment. Did you know YELP has reviews for doctors? We read everything we could beforehand and I expected we'd love him. He answered all our questions before we asked them. I know many parents to shop around and "interview" a few pediatricians before choosing. We didn't really have time for that and felt lucky we loved our first choice.

GROWTH ULTRASOUND/ABDOMINAL PAIN
Finally, late on a Friday afternoon I had my first growth ultrasound. They measured baby's head, abdomen, heart, leg bones, and I don't even know what else. His weight came out at an estimated 2lbs 15 ounces and all measurements placed him in the 53rd percentile. So far on track! Not too big, not too small. Of course, I have no idea how accurate it is or how they calculate those measurements! The tech also was kind enough to give us some extra views of baby's profile and did some 3D imaging. As I've stated before, I've always thought these look kind of creepy. They still do, but I cannot stop staring at ours, oohing and aahing over it, and gushing that he looks just like my husband! Cannot wait to kiss those cheeks!

During this appointment I explained to the doctor that I'd been experiencing some abdominal pain. Because of the location of the pain she had me complete blood work to check my liver. Again, tests returned normal. Yay! We decided it seems muscle related as heat packs seem to help and sitting too long makes it worse. Actually sitting longer than 10 minutes sometimes is painful. I bought a heat pack specially for work that I can put around my belly so I can sit and get work done. I also got one of those belly support bands which has helped a little, but more with my posture when up and about. Ugh! Bring it on 3rd trimester!

FLYING IN THE 3RD TRIMESTER
After the onslaught of doctor appointments, we had a nice Thanksgiving weekend visiting family. We flew to Oregon from California and even though it's a short flight it was pretty uncomfortable. My doctor gave me a note for travel, but no one asked me for it. I also got sick for the 3rd time this fall during the holiday! We came back with an extra day off to rest, which was much needed because I'm feeling the fatigue come back!

On the way home I had to get the "female assist pat down" because I refuse to go through those new machines while pregnant. I've gotten really use to these and the sweet TSA lady and I were flying through it. I'm complicated because not only am I pregnant, but also wearing multiple medical devices right now. I have to touch my CGM and insulin pump, then they wipe my hands and stick it in the machine to test for explosives. Well I have no idea what could have been on me, but the machine alerts in red EXPLOSIVES DETECTED. I freaked out a little. The TSA woman was more like "oh jez, now we have to take you back to the private room and do more screening". All I could think is I hope I get to keep my clothes on! Thankfully I was calmed that my husband could come with me. He was carrying all my stuff from the security line. They redid the pat down exactly how they'd done it by security and then they tested everything in both my carry ons. It went pretty fast and before we knew it we were out of there laughing about it. Definitely a first!!!

EXERCISE
During week 30 I committed to getting back to the gym. I had dropped to 1-2 times a week with supplementing walking and my prenatal workout DVD. Between being tired, in pain, and on vacation it was difficulty to get my workouts done. I am glad to be back because my body needs it. I have made a lot of modifications but I still try to do weights 2-3 times a week and cardio (or at least "light cardio") 4-5 times a week.

NST
I had my first non-stress test at week 30. I will be doing these weekly now, along with growth ultrasounds every 4 weeks, it means I'm at the doctor 1-2 times per week. They hooked me up to a machine with two monitors. One tracked the baby's heart rate and the other if I was having contractions. I sit there for about 20-30 minutes. 

My understanding is that this helps monitor if the placenta is keeping the baby healthy and whether or not I'm showing early labor signs. Again, everything looked normal!

Lots of little potential scares these last few weeks and I'm glad none of my googling "eye floaters" or "upper abdominal pain" led me to freak out too much. Also, glad the airport didn't arrest me for "explosives detected!!" Good grief! Feeling very thankful for lots of "just another pregnancy symptom" moments. Can't wait for the "just another part of motherhood" moments! 

Since I know I'm being induced by 39 weeks, we've only got 8 weeks to go!

Last "selfie" of my bump I've taken back at 28 weeks. Since I feel like I've swallowed a baby whale since then I haven't taken a more recent one!!! I will remedy that this weekend I hope!!

National Diabetes Month: Life With Diabetes

November is National Diabetes Month and Today is National Diabetes Day!

The American Recall Center is asking, "What Do You Want People to Know About Diabetes"
This is challenging to answer because at first I want people to know "everything" so I don't have to go into any long explanations! Second, I want people to understand that type 1 and type 2 diabetes are very different when it comes to treatment. Finally, I want people to know that having diabetes does not have to be devastating. It never goes away, there is never a break, and all that hard work should be a constant reminder of gratitude for being able to be healthy.

"I don't love the challenges and hardships from diabetes. I love to overcome diabetes and defy odds every hour of the day. I love what I learn from diabetes and the characteristics those lessons teach me."

This strong and positive attitude is not always easy to find. I've been struggle with it a bit this week as I face seeing the eye doctor tomorrow! Pregnancy and tight control can lead to changes in the eyes of a person with pre-exsisting diabetes. (Awful how better blood sugars can cause problems too huh? Diabetes is just rude!!!). I've been seeing "eye floaters" and have to go get checked out. It could be a normal pregnancy symptom or a sign of a serious eye problem. I've been so thankful to not have any diabetes related complications so far in life. Trying to keep that positive attitude and remember I can handle anything that is thrown at me! Today or tomorrow....

Managing my type 1 diabetes every day (especially during pregnancy) is a constant reminder of the blessing of modern medicine and that good health is worth hard work!

Type 1 Diabetes and Pregnancy: Weeks 20-26

The last few weeks have had consisted of the following highlights:

 

22 weeks

• Spiking blood sugars. Happened right at 18 weeks for me, and even worse after 20 weeks. I fought two different head colds during the last 5 weeks which didn't help. I had an appointment with the CDE dietician and have had to make weekly to daily insulin amount adjustments. My complete daily dosage has gone from 15-22 units pre-pregnancy to 40-50 units currently. Pretty crazy climb. Also a very natural part of any pregnancy, but the different is I can SEE my insulin needs change.
• While feeling down about a few crazy days with high blood sugar spikes I also got back another A1C.......5.5! Keeping it there will be another story, but thankfully I'm mid-pregnancy with a great average. Time to keep fighting the good fight.
• I began feeling baby more and at the start of week 25 my husband felt him too!
• I had a follow up ultrasound to look at the baby's heart and spine (again)!
• We took our childbirth classes during this time. Four Fridays talking about labor and delivery from 630pm-930pm was torturous. The highlight was that it turned out we were sitting right next to another mommy to be with type 1 diabetes! The instructor said she'd never had one type1 in a class let alone two! They were a great couple to relate with and swap stories. During introductions we all had to say something we liked about pregnancy for most moms it was "feeling the baby" followed by "getting to eat whatever". We were both quick to point out that we didn't have the option of "getting to eat whatever" and in fact we found ourselves having the opposite experience of "strictest diet ever". The instructor was super sweet and the information pretty good, but meeting the other type1 was the best part of the class for us. Because of our jobs and backgrounds the class moved slow for us and we felt the one day seminar would have been the smarter choice! (My husband is trained in emergency medicine and therefore to deliver babies/pediatric life support. I have education/clinical experience with being a nursing assistant in college, medical speech pathology, and early childhood development.) 

Accidental 24 week photo while testing out the video baby monitor. Kept it, because check out the growth spurt!

How far along: 26 weeks

Gender: Boy

Maternity clothes: Maternity jeans from Motherhood. Pregnancy Halloween baby skeleton shirt from Amazon.com

Stretch marks: None, but belly is getting itchy and I'm worried! Using Nivea cream and coconut oil like crazy!

Belly button in or out: In....questionable if it is staying there.

Sleep: Good!

Best moment this week: Halloween! Seeing my students in costume! Also, my doctor appointment was a highlight, hearing the heartbeat, and seeing my sweet OBGYN!

Worst moment this week: Upper back sore tight muscles. This happens to me when not pregnant though! Husband, heat pack, and tiger balm helping!

Miss anything: October has been a stressful month at work, so a shot of whiskey would be nice. I also hit another growth spurt and miss my pre-pregnancy wardrobe!

Movement: Lots of kicking and pretty sure hiccups!

Cravings: Biscuits. Made some gluten free low carb ones!

Queasy or sick: Feeling good! A little tired and cranky sometimes.

Looking forward to: Growth ultrasound at 29 weeks and Thanksgiving Break!

 

25 weeks 

 26 weeks

Type One Diabetes and Pregnancy Weeks 13-20....Gender Reveal

It has been a month since I've updated! Yikes time flew bye! This post will cover the last 6 weeks of pregnancy and catch up to the current moment in time!

It has been relatively un-eventful. I've enjoyed the return of energy and reduced nausea that everyone said would come with the second trimester. Although I'm still very tired all the time and my workouts exhaust me much faster, I do not sleep 12-16 hours a day anymore!

I got pretty lazy about taking "bump" pictures and have way too many of myself in gym clothes working out in our garage!!

I had a check up during week 15 with Dr. A, my regular OBGYN. This was a short appointment to listen to the heartbeat and measure my fundal height. I did blood work the same day for further prenatal screenings and to get my A1C. My A1C was still 5.7, which was unbelievably amazing. 

Enjoying a friend's wedding celebration around 16 weeks!! Somewhat still able to "hide" the bump.

My next appointment was with my endocrinologist during week 18. This turned out to be great timing because the insulin resistance that sets in around half way through pregnancy and gets worse until the end was just starting to show that week! We were able to make some small adjustments and my blood sugar averages came back down that same week. We planned for me to send my logs in to her via email, meet with the CDE (certified diabetes educator) dietician with my food and blood sugar logs, and then again with my endo in the weeks ahead. 

My superstar husband also went out and picked me up a used treadmill. This helps immensely with getting down high blood sugars! Thus far 10-15 minutes of walking and drinking a lot of water can help correct numbers like 240 to 140 and 178 to 70. As I've stated before, this works for my body and maybe not all type 1s. I also often wind up low, but I'd rather quickly correct a low than have hours of high blood sugars for baby's sake. The treadmill allows me to exercise at any time day or night if my blood sugar creeps up too high!

20 weeks=5months=OMGhalfwaythere!!!!

During week 19 we had our anatomy ultrasound. They spent almost 30 minutes taking pictures of every structure they could. My regular high risk doctor could not see me as he was held up with another patient. Another doctor covered for him and reviewed the pictures with us. She review my second trimester blood work. We also finally found out the baby's gender!!! IT'S A BOY......!!

We had a small gender reveal celebration and took some better than in-the-garage-working-out "bump" pictures!